written
- a past participle of write.
write
- to trace or form (characters, letters, words, etc.) on the surface of some material, as with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means; inscribe: Write your name on the board.
- to express or communicate in writing; give a written account of.
- to fill in the blank spaces of (a printed form) with writing: to write a check.
- to execute or produce by setting down words, figures, etc.: to write two copies of a letter.
- to compose and produce in words or characters duly set down: to write a letter to a friend.
- to produce as author or composer: to write a sonnet; to write a symphony.
- to trace significant characters on, or mark or cover with writing.
- to cause to be apparent or unmistakable: Honesty is written on his face.
- Computers. to transfer (information, data, programs, etc.) from storage to secondary storage or an output medium.
- Stock Exchange. to sell (options).
- to underwrite.
- to trace or form characters, words, etc., with a pen, pencil, or other instrument or means, or as a pen or the like does: He writes with a pen.
- to write as a profession or occupation: She writes for the Daily Inquirer.
- to express ideas in writing.
- to write a letter or letters, or communicate by letter: Write if you get work.
- to compose or work as a writer or author.
- Computers. to write into a secondary storage device or output medium.
- write down,
- to set down in writing; record; note.
- to direct one's writing to a less intelligent reader or audience: He writes down to the public.
- write in,
- to vote for (a candidate not listed on the ballot) by writing his or her name on the ballot.
- to include in or add to a text by writing: Do not write in corrections on the galley.
- to request something by mail: If interested, please write in for details.
- write off,
- to cancel an entry in an account, as an unpaid and uncollectable debt.
- to regard as worthless, lost, obsolete, etc.; decide to forget: to write off their bad experience.
- to amortize: The new equipment was written off in three years.
- write out,
- to put into writing.
- to write in full form; state completely.
- to exhaust the capacity or resources of by excessive writing: He's just another author who has written himself out.
- write up,
- to put into writing, especially in full detail: Write up a report.
- to present to public notice in a written description or account.
- Accounting.to make an excessive valuation of (an asset).
Origin of write
Synonyms for write
See more synonyms for on Thesaurus.comExamples from the Web for written
Contemporary Examples of written
Michael Kazin is a historian who has written a lot about the New Left.
The Samaritan guidelines are written around the assumption that suicide is a purely irrational act, an act spurred by illness.
Cover-Ups and Concern Trolls: Actually, It's About Ethics in Suicide JournalismArthur Chu
January 3, 2015
Among the characters to be portrayed were the people I had written about—the unsung heroes of the Selma campaign.
It was different, he said, from any other song he had ever written.
How Martin Luther King Jr. Influenced Sam Cooke’s ‘A Change Is Gonna Come’Peter Guralnick
December 28, 2014
This article is adapted from one written for Niqash by Khales Joumah and published December 24.
Historical Examples of written
If it were not so, his hand would have written in reply to thy kind epistle.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
Over the gate was written in large letters, 'The Entrance of Mortals.'
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
That matron, like most Grecian women, was ignorant of her own written language.
PhilotheaLydia Maria Child
If he had been picked up by any vessel I suppose he would have written.
Brave and BoldHoratio Alger
Written years before, at the time of publication he was thirty-three.
'Tis Sixty Years SinceCharles Francis Adams
written
- the past participle of write
- taken down in writing; transcribedwritten evidence; the written word Compare spoken (def. 2)
write
- to draw or mark (symbols, words, etc) on a surface, usually paper, with a pen, pencil, or other instrument
- to describe or record (ideas, experiences, etc) in writing
- to compose (a letter) to or correspond regularly with (a person, organization, etc)
- (tr; may take a clause as object) to say or communicate by letterhe wrote that he was on his way
- (tr) informal, mainly US and Canadian to send a letter to (a person, etc)
- to write (words) in cursive as opposed to printed style
- (tr) to be sufficiently familiar with (a specified style, language, etc) to use it in writing
- to be the author or composer of (books, music, etc)
- (tr) to fill in the details for (a document, form, etc)
- (tr) to draw up or draft
- (tr) to produce by writinghe wrote ten pages
- (tr) to show clearlyenvy was written all over his face
- (tr) to spell, inscribe, or entitle
- (tr) to ordain or prophesyit is written
- (tr) to sit (an examination)
- (intr) to produce writing as specified
- computing to record (data) in a location in a storage deviceCompare read 1 (def. 16)
- (tr) Compare underwrite (def. 3a)
Word Origin for write
Word Origin and History for written
write
Old English writan "to score, outline, draw the figure of," later "to set down in writing" (class I strong verb; past tense wrat, past participle writen), from Proto-Germanic *writanan "tear, scratch" (cf. Old Frisian writa "to write," Old Saxon writan "to tear, scratch, write," Old Norse rita "write, scratch, outline," Old High German rizan "to write, scratch, tear," German reißen "to tear, pull, tug, sketch, draw, design"), outside connections doubtful. Words for "write" in most I.E languages originally mean "carve, scratch, cut" (cf. Latin scribere, Greek grapho, Sanskrit rikh-); a few originally meant "paint" (cf. Gothic meljan, Old Church Slavonic pisati, and most of the modern Slavic cognates).
For men use to write an evill turne in marble stone, but a good turne in the dust. [More, 1513]
To write (something) off (1680s) originally was from accounting; figurative sense is recorded from 1889. Write-in "unlisted candidate" is recorded from 1932.
Idioms and Phrases with written
write
In addition to the idioms beginning with write
- write down
- write in
- write off
- write one's own ticket
- write out
- write up
also see:
- nothing to write home about
Also see underwrote.